Field of the Invention
This invention relates to solar concentrating photovoltaic technology, and in particular, to a low cost photovoltaic concentrator system.
Description of the Related Art
Many technologies for harnessing clean and renewable solar energy have been applied to produce heat, electricity, and fuels. The applications span through the residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and transportation sectors. One of the most widely applied technologies is to generate electricity, also known as photovoltaics (PV). Commercial PV systems range in size from mega watt (MW) power plants to rooftop power systems to portable electronics.
However, the cost of solar energy conversion needs to be further reduced to make solar energy a more desirable choice of energy source. Currently, electricity generated by solar power is typically a few times more expensive than electricity generated by burning fossil fuels.
One of the means to lower the solar electricity cost is to use refractive lens and reflective minors to concentrate sunlight onto PV cells. Such systems are known as concentrating PV (CPV) or concentrators. CPV allows for a reduction in the cell area and therefore the cost for producing a certain amount of electricity. However, most of the traditional concentrators are based on group III-V multi-junction cells, which are very expensive (on the order of US$10/cm2) and typically used in space programs although it has the highest efficiency. This is one of the two key factors limiting the capability of CPV to compete with conventional crystalline silicon flat panels.